Good (up-to-date and reliable) source of information about travel destinations

Question

For my past trips I was learning about my destination from a book and then was picking up updated tips from the Internet. For my next trip to Thailand I decided to plan it using only online sources.

I'm using TripAdvisor, Gogobot and Facebook to get recommendations about places to visit and accommodation options along with Stack Exchange for more practical information.

What I'm missing is a source of general and background information about my destination.

I stumbled upon Wikitravel which seems quite comprehensive. Is it really up-to-date and reliable? Are there other recommended websites to get such information?

Answer 1

www.travbuddy.com also has a quite active and large user database and a destination guide for hotel reviews, things to do and travel blogs. However some of the less popular destination often only show reviews made years ago and might not be accurate anymore.

Apart from that: Never rely on Google Maps alone for your travel planing, but ask locals or try to call them up to confirm your destination attraction or lodge is still open and in business. I made that mistake once during winter in Canada, when i arrived in some small town in BC at 10pm, walked 4km from the bus station to the city center only to find out that the only Hostel in town closed down 3 years ago and had been converted into a public library.

Answer 2

Wikitravel is often more updated and accurate in some instances than published guides as it doesn't have a fixed publication schedule. It really depends on what article you're reading on it though. For a measure of how reliable an article is, scroll to the bottom of the article and see what rating it has ('excellent', 'usable', etc.) And since it's a community effort, if you come across new information, do add it!

Other sites / mobile apps I'd recommend you to look at would be Triposo and Virtual Tourist.